washington slammed the move as provocative while china and russia expressed regret. for more we're joined from by beijing by nbc reporter ian williams. ian, it seems to be a secretary launch. certainly more successful than one earlier in the year. what is the reaction there? >> reporter: that's right, rot. certainly more successful because, of course, that rocket earlier in the year burned out shortly after it left the ground. now across the region, there's been anger and dismay. but also a little bit of surprise because it had looked at the week, at the weekend like this launch might be delayed. the north incited technical reasons, but there was speculation that perhaps china, which had expressed deep concern, was putting pressure on behind the scenes. now a lot of the outrage we've seen has been predictable from japan, from south korea, from the u.s. but the chinese reaction has been a little bit more nuanced. they expressed that deep concern ahead of the rocket launch. and today they were wrapping themselves up in diplomatic contortionism if finding a way of respo